Fundraisers have become a common way of paying for a wide range of Paulding school activities, and Paulding County School Board approved 32 different requests Feb. 12.

Each school is in charge of monitoring its own fundraising events, said Associate Superintendent Brian Ottot.

At East Paulding Middle School, the first step to requesting a fundraiser is to fill out a request form and give it to school bookkeeper Cherie Divin. Then she reviews the sponsor’s form and gives it to the principal to approve or decline, Divin said. If it is approved, it is sent to Charles Kuss, the coordinator for local administration for the district.

He reviews all of the requests throughout the county, and will approve or deny them. Once approved, they are sent to the board, Kuss said.

“The requests are presented to the board a week in advance [of board meetings],” he said.

This allows the members to look over each fundraiser and ask any questions they have, Kuss said.

East Paulding Middle tries to finish one fundraiser before beginning another, Divin said.

“We don’t want to bombard parents with fundraisers,” she said.

Groups requesting permission for fundraisers Feb. 12 included football and tennis teams, Beta clubs, drama and chorus groups and Relay for Life teams.

However, a request the board also granted was for the science department at East Paulding Middle.

Students are selling items from Great American Opportunities, which features different items online, said Annette Pearson, science department chair.

“It has been very successful [in the past],” Pearson said.

The department is raising money to replace equipment, buy new equipment and buy consumable items, which can only be used once.

“My budget for science this year was $1,000,” she said.

There are 870 students at the school which averages to $1.15 per student a year to pay for lab materials.

“I probably do four to five activities a week,” Pearson said.

This leaves it up to parents, teachers and fundraisers to cover the gap in the budget, she said.

“We believe the lab education is very important for our students,” Pearson said.

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